Finding Treasure in God's Words
Surely I AM hath carried your grief and borne your sorrows for I AM THE MAN of sorrows and I AM well acquainted with grief.
Can you bear with ME, even for a short while? My Heart is overcome with grief over this world—My Own creation.
Yes, you hear ME correctly. I AM grieved that the Day has come for judging unrighteousness. Oh, comfort Me, My People!
Jesus. 4:11 a.m.
Listen to Me. Digest this Word. Assimilate this Word. Live this Word.
I AM empowering you in WAYS you cannot imagine or conjure up on your own and in your own power. I Tell you: I Will pour into you, then through you, the unimaginable.
You WILL crush Satan under your feet. The weight of Me through you will vanquish him wherever your feet tread.
Do not try to figure this out. Obey and go where I direct you. Do what I put in you to do. Say what I give you to say. Be AS Me in every place.
I AM Faithful to accomplish these things.
Now may the God of ALL Peace keep you in this New Word.
I Love you. Jesus, Lover of your soul.
1:45 a.m. – finish
5) “But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them (i.e., Paul and Silas) out to the people. 6) And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, ‘These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also…’”. (Acts 17:5 & 6, KJV)
I laughed when this title came to me in the middle of the night, but then sobered as I realized that this is exactly what I have been doing since my very first essay. As I’ve pushed through Romans, struggling to express my thoughts, I’ve come to realize that this chapter, along with chapter 8, form sort of lynch pins that connect personal faith up with a greater faith, a national or “world” faith, if you will; the kind of faith that can, and is meant to, change the world. I invite you to step inside my thinking process again and to join me as I return to my original question, “Who is Israel today?”
Paul tells us at the beginning of chapter 9 that his deepest longing is for his brethren in the flesh, all Israelites, and down toward the end where, in verse 26, he finishes that thought by quoting from Hosea 1:10, that “in the place where it was said unto them, ‘Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.’” Paul’s whole life from the time of his conversion onward was devoted to taking this good news of Christ, their long-awaited Messiah, to his Israel brethren who were scattered throughout the Roman empire. All of the historical information in the first section of the chapter was climaxed when Paul threw in verse 29 about Sodom and Gomorrah, at which point he transisted from talking mainly at a physical level into pulling us more deeply into the spiritual. It is at this point where things start to get really exciting.
In my most recent study I made a big deal of the fact that our righteousness, according to the exact wording in verse 30 (and on to the end of the chapter), comes technically from out of faith, not “by” or “on” faith. Today I am going to carry on with this line of thinking in regard to the word works.
Verse 31 states, “But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. 32) Wherefore? Because they sought it not from out of faith, but as it were from out of works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone.” Do you see that the same mechanism or process works with both faith or works? Either we seek our righteousness from out of faith or from out of works. Paul infers in verse 27, that Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. This says to me that not all of Israel can see or discern where faith aborts and works begin. This vision is not of works, lest we boast and take God’s glory for ourselves. HE has left us a precious seed that will grow and grow within and gradually fill not only us, personally, but the whole earth. However, there is that stumblingstone, that rock of offense with which to contend!
What is that stumblingstone? More than one Bible expositor concludes that Jesus is that stone or rock that is so easy to stumble over. In fact, that is the only explanation I have ever heard. A careful reading of verse 32 reveals something additional. First, let’s look at Strong’s definition.
4348. proskomma: a stumbling, an occasion of stumbling
Original Word: πρόσκομμα, ατος, τό
Part of Speech: Noun, Neuter
Transliteration: proskomma
Phonetic Spelling: (pros’-kom-mah)
Definition: a stumbling, an occasion of stumbling
Usage: a stumbling-block, an occasion for falling, a moral embarrassment.
Now, let’s take another look at Romans 9:32: Wherefore? Because they sought it not by (from out of) faith, but as it were by (from out of) the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone. (KJV). What does “stumbled at that stumblingstone” hark back to or modify? Is it not “works of the law” in the phrase directly before?
We know that Jesus Christ’s coming threw a huge roadblock in the temple authorities’ control structure that included a lot of legal mumbo jumbo or hoops for the people to jump through. His dying and draining His blood into the earth to redeem all of mankind was the total price that God required. It was done—no more works of the law needed. From that moment forward our salvation comes totally from out of His faith. Then, immediately, when we raise our eyes from the path, we encounter Mount Sion in verse 33.
First of all we need to ask: is it Sion or Zion? Your answer to this question can make all the difference in the world. Many of the English translations interchange Zion with Sion, but they are two distinctly different geographical places. Zion refers to geographical Jerusalem and sometimes to the entire land of modern day Israel. It is to Mount Moriah in ancient Jerusalem that Abraham took his son Isaac to be sacrificed (but it was aborted at the last second). This is also the place where Jesus our Savior was crucified. Sion, on the other hand, is another name for Mount Hermon that is located at the far north border between Israel and Lebanon. This is the place where Jesus was transfigured. Both of these places have deep spiritual connotations, but which place was Paul referencing here? Both of my Interlinear Greek texts translate this word as Sion and I agree with this conclusion for both logical and spiritual reasons.
We need to remind ourselves that Paul had been mourning over his distant relatives, physical Israel, that they might receive the true gospel of Jesus Christ, their longed for Messiah, and be changed in their hearts. He listed all their credentials for being chosen to receive this awesome truth of salvation borne through Jesus. He recounted their glorious history as the nation chosen to bear this truth as they treked through thousands of years, experiencing first hand the ministrations of God. In chapter 7 he explained in detail how Jesus, the Messiah, had become the bridegroom they waited for. In chapter 8 he cried out, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” He concluded, “I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!” Now here, at the end of chapter 9, he brings up Sion.
Why Sion? Because he has already preached Jesus crucified and risen. Remember, Paul wrote this epistle at least three decades after Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. He did not want them to go backwards to Zion, that old Jerusalem that is fated to be destroyed, and to get stuck at the foot of the cross over and over again. He wanted them to go forward and to experience Christ’s transfiguration at Mount Sion that represented the New Jerusalem, the heavenly or spiritual Jerusalem that comes down from above. But, immediately! A conundrum—a stumblingstone and rock of offence. A trap!
Peter, John, and James, Jesus’ disciples, witnessed this extraordinary event. Much has been written about this event, but I will share fresh thoughts that came to me as I mulled it over. In the light of chapter 7, vs. 4, where Paul carefully explained how a believer becomes “dead to the law through the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, to Him who is raised out of the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God,” the transfiguration pictures for me the marriage between us, the bride, and Christ, the groom.
In the beginning as the woman was taken out of the side of man, at our marriage to Christ, we became joined back into Him or fused with Him “at the hip,” so to speak. When our relationship with our Savior was new we did not always understand or see the true truth of our marriage. As the three men watched this supernatural event unfold, it was apparent that they weren’t thinking about marriage either.
Christ, our husband in the spirit, had a conference with Moses and Elijah in broad daylight. I don’t know how or what the disciples thought about people who died, but it is evident they were shocked at this literal revelation unfolding before them. Now, here is the part that helped me understand true reality. If it is truely “me” joined with Christ “at the hip,” I, too, operate in both the physical and spiritual realms or dimensions in the same moment. However, our marriage is unique in that we (Christ and me) have a special arrangement: I, in my flesh, carry on in the physical world while my husband, Jesus, operates in the spirit realm.
Do you remember watching a Polaroid snap shot slowly develop? Our relationship with our husband, Christ, develops very slowly, too. Sometimes we don’t fully appreciate how this marriage works, but we are being given an explanation here, at Sion, if we have the eyes to see it. In this marriage we have all the powers of Jesus Christ to draw upon just as surely as if He were sitting at the breakfast table with us. This marriage is a Right Now, here-in-your-flesh, relationship. For now, we are His bride who keeps the house and family going until He comes home.
I am posting Stephen Jones’ April 11 blog (www.godskingdom.org)about the Zionist’s plan to sacrifice a red heifer in Al-Aqsa Mosque on April 22, 2024:
This sacrifice is considered to be a requirement before the Israelis can build the third temple on the Temple Mount, so that Levitical priests can reinstitute Old Testament worship, complete with animal sacrifices. It is also said to be the temple from which the “Antichrist” will rule for a few years before being evicted by Jesus in His second coming.
But in order to accomplish this, the Zionists intend to demolish the Al-Aqsa Mosque that currently stands on the Temple Mount. Such demolition would certainly spark a regional war.
This is directly from the Middle East Observer, April 11, 2024:
Temple Mount organizations officially submit a request to the #Israeli police to allow the introduction of an altar and knives to slaughter red cows in Al-Aqsa Mosque on April 22, 2024.
Now I ask you again: Who is a True Israelite? The person who draws their faith from out of their loving husband, Jesus Christ at Mount Sion, or the person who stumbles over works of the law by returning to Mount Zion?
What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. (Romans 9:30, KJV)
Back in late February, in prayer I asked God this question, What, exactly, is the gospel of the kingdom? And then, quickly, before I could contrive an answer, I “heard” the following: That the Holiness of God has come down to mankind and that He Fills us. I understood this to mean that He fills us in whatever way we need filling, an example being the story of the Samaritan woman at the well whom Jesus filled with living water.
I struggled to balance this new information with the soul-shaking information I had already uncovered in my last study when I had cross-referenced Romans 9:29 where Paul mentioned Sodom and Gomorrha to the gospel passages in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, where Jesus’ sent his disciples out two by two to announce the gospel of the kingdom to the lost sheep of Israel. It was as if I had an epiphany, but was unable to connect the dots. At that point I reread the whole of chapter 9 in my hard copy of George Ricker Berry’s “Interlinear Greek-English New Testament.” It was then that the little word ek zinged off the page in verse 30 and arrested my attention. I could see that Berry had translated the word as “by,” but my memory jogged me of something else, so I checked out Strong’s definition.
1537. ek or ex
ek or ex: from, from out of
Original Word: ἐκ, ἐξ
Part of Speech: Preposition
Transliteration: ek or ex
Phonetic Spelling: (ek)
Definition: from, from out of
Usage: from out, out from among, from, suggesting from the interior outwards.
1537 ek (a preposition, written eks before a vowel) – properly, “out from and to” (the outcome); out from within. 1537 /ek (“out of”) is one of the most under-translated (and therefore mis-translated) Greek propositions – often being confined to the meaning “by.” 1537 (ek) has a two-layered meaning (“out from and to“) which makes it out-come oriented (out of the depths of the source and extending to its impact on the object).
Quickly I reread all of chapter 9 in Berry’s Interlinear to see if ek or ex showed up again. Unless I miscounted, I found 10 occurences, where he had translated the preposition in a variety of ways: of, by, out of (one time,) and from among (twice.) To further appease my curiosity, I quickly inventoried my selection of Blue Letter Bible English translations to see how they translated the one occurrence of ek in Romans 9:30 and this is what I found. NKJV—OF faith; CSB (Christian Standard)—FROM faith; KJV—OF faith; NIV—BY faith; ASV—OF faith; HNV—OF faith; YLT—OF faith.
You can see that Strong was pretty accurate in his assessment that ek or ex, if the truest translation is properly, “out from and to”, that /ek (“out of”) is one of the most under-translated (and therefore mis-translated) Greek propositions – often being confined to the meaning “by.” To me there is a vast difference between “by” and “from out of.” When you insert “from out of” in front of the words Christ or works or faith, you get a whole other level of meaning than you do from the more pallid word “by.” It flashed into my mind that “from out of” insinuates that something comes out of the very “guts” of, as in verse 30, faith.
This strong reminder to me of the true meaning of this common preposition ek/ex, helped to pull together much that puzzled me about the previous content of chapter 9. Now, however, I was faced with the added challenge of connecting up everything I had gathered so far with the new information about gentile’s faith versus Israel’s being added into the mix. Even though I wasn’t sure how all the parts would fit together, I was eager to start writing. One thing I’ve learned, though, is that when Father wants to teach me or to impress a thing deeply, He gives me “experiences.”
When I awoke Monday morning, a crippling pain in my lower back warned me that my hips were “out.” Paul may have had his thorn in the flesh, but this hip thing was mine. As I hobbled toward the kitchen to get my day started, I glanced in the mirror. My face was covered with red, puffy welts! “Lord,” I prayed despairingly, “How can I pray healing for others when I can’t seem to heal myself?” With that, my eyebrows started itching.
Later that morning I acted cheery and nonchallant when I limped into the chiropractor’s office, but the snaps and pops were anything but funny when he adjusted my hips and back. When I exited the chiropractor’s, it felt as if everything slipped back out of position, but my body was so tender in the aftermath of the treatment, that I couldn’t face another go around of adjusting right then. I decided to just go home and rest.
It was a long, discouraging week of confinement that kept me close to my recliner. I was mostly pain free until I needed to stand, at which point I was faced with the dilemma of whether to do it slowly or all in one swift motion. I chose swift to get the sharp pain over with, after which I was able to ambulate stiffly around my apartment. The brightest part of the week was spending one afternoon watching TV movies. Right next to that luxury was that the hives, except for itchy eyebrows, began to dissipate.
Any optimism that my lower back might be getting better dissolved when I awoke in severe pain near 3 a.m.Thursday. After using the bathroom and getting a glass of water, I wrapped myself in my quilt and settled into my recliner. Tears nearly suffocated me as I gave way to discouragement. “Lord,” I sniffled, “How can I keep living up a flight of stairs in this condition? I don’t want the kids to worry about me, but I’m only getting older! I’ve declared and prayed healing for my hips, for every bone and joint to align under You for years, yet this keeps coming back. And, Lord, there’s noone to help me to even carry groceries up the stairs. And how can I ever finish writing these Romans studies?” All the while I carried on, my nose ran like a sieve and I wiped away the tears until a mound of wadded up soggy tissues piled up at my feet. Eventually the worst of the storm passed and Father was able to minister to me.
“Do you trust Me? Am I able to meet all your needs,” He probed. Well, yes, of course. He had always met every single need, usually in such a quiet and unobtrusive manner that I didn’t even notice that the problem had disappeared until sometime later. I knew this and know that He will always meet every single need I will ever have, but this time His questioning somehow struck a nerve or a place I had never visited before.
“Do you really believe Me when I say I will meet—nay, more than meet your every need, Carol?”
I sat absolutely still before Him. There were things I had prayed about for decades that had not been resolved to date. Private things that I had run out of imaginings as to how He would answer. Seemingly impossible things.
He began talking, or maybe it was more like impressions that came. I saw myself coming up against barriers—the hard places of dreams, desires, or needs that I couldn’t make happen, the places I had agonized over, the hopes and longings that never seemed to resolve or come true for me. Once again tears started flowing.
“This is how ‘by faith’ works,” He said. “Or, ‘on faith.’ By faith is literally by faith; on faith is literally on faith. They are places. By or on, but never in, inside of, faith. Do you see the difference?”
Oh, yes, I could see the difference. Clearly, “by” or “on” are positions. Can you see how, when all that we read in our English Bibles is that “by faith” or “on faith” or even “of faith”, has blunted our understanding of what our position in relation with faith should be? Can you see how what we refer to as faith is often of little or no effect on the deep issues of life?
Now and then I have hit the mark and have connected with Christ’s faith that is the core of true faith. What we need to do if we would be true Israelites, is to intentionally check on our faith to determine whether we are trying to “gin up” strong feelings that we can often mistake for faith. Or, do we aim our needs and requests, whatever form they may take, in the faith that comes literally from out of Christ?
It is His from out of faith that we must rely on if we will ever achieve His purposes in this world.
Thurs., March 14, 2024. 3:33 a.m. start
Today is the beginning of the End. It will go fast! I Will make a quick work of the death throes of Babylon.
My Children—all you have seen is chaos and confusion upon earth in the short time of your life here. It will change—in a moment, in a twinkling. Soon: you will go to bed on this side of radical change and wake up on the other side; just with a snap of My fingers all will be new and fresh.
You have prayed faithfully for My Will to come on this earth. Even now My Kingdom is breaking through! You’ve prayed it and found strength—My Strength—to “will it” into focus.
YES! I Say, YES! Get ready. I Come! Big Time CHANGE will dazzle you! You can’t imagine!
There’s God Times Rolling!
I Love You, My Little Ones. Hold Fast! I AM on the Way.
Jesus. 3:50 a.m. (17 minutes start to finish!)
My Dear Children,
This has been a time of much turmoil. It is necessary…you will see. It is much like baking a cake: you put all the ingredients in a bowl then turn on the mixer.
Think about it. A mixer is merciless, in a way, in the mixing process. The same with this time. It is like a relentless storm. By now everybody should have heard the phrase: the storm is upon us. I AM mixing it up.
What comes after mixing the batter? Yes. You’ve figured it out—heat! I AM about to turn up the heat. The heat, My Heat, will complete the process. My Plan is for you, My True Children, to come forth as Gold. Refined. Purified. Valuable. And I AM going to Cash You In.
You don’t know what “cash you in” means?
Stay tuned in to Me and I Will Show You! The Best is yet to come, My Beloveds.
Jesus, Your Savior. End: 4:52 a.m.
Morning has Broken! Again—HALLELUJAH!
My Children, the Long Knight is Over. Mourning is past.
I See you, My Children, Beloved and Chosen for this time. You are in My Heart. Precious—you are Precious to Me. My Heart breaks for your long, long suffering. I See You.
Come, My Beloveds. Come away with Me. I Have waited—it seems forever to Me—for this moment. Come to the High Places I Have prepared for you. This is not what many have believed. Just come! I Will show you—a Place Beyond!
It is I AM who has led you this long WAY. Come My Beloveds! We are almost there.
Keep your eyes fastened on Me. I AM directly before you.
Just a few more steps!
Faith! Almost there!
Your Commander—Jesus. (4:38 a.m.)
Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city. (Matthew 10:15; YLT)
I have not been able to get Christ’s pronouncement out of my mind that it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city—that house? country?—that refuses the kingdom message. So many questions about this statement of Christ’s will not let me rest.
When we read the gospel accounts of Christ commissioning his disciples and his warnings to certain cities in Matthew 10:15, Matt.11:23-24, Mark 6:11, Luke 10:12, and Luke 17:29, we need to acknowledge that Christ isn’t talking about being saved here. Therefore, what exactly does He mean when He talks about the kingdom of heaven being at hand? An even more momentous question needs to be asked: how does all of this apply to us today? What does the kingdom even look like? But, probably the most glaring question of all needs attention: what could possibly be worse in the day of judgment than being annihilated like Sodom and Gomorrah? Once again I invite you to track along with me in the challenges to sort out this very dire subject.
Thinking back to Christ’s words, I ask myself what is the nature of the message of the kingdom of heaven that He laid upon His disciples? He told them first to announce the arrival of the kingdom and then they were to do some physical actions—heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out devils. No sermon was involved. All that was required of the disciples was to believe Christ and then to go forth and do and say what He commissioned them to do and say. It was the responsibility of the hearers to receive or to reject what they offered. If they rejected the messengers, the consequences were extremely serious.
I have touched upon the seriousness of rejecting the kingdom message in the previous chapter, but in order for those lessons to resonate, we need to overlay that template on our present day society. What was what going on in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah that compares to what is going on in our society today? I say we must confront the sin of homosexuality, repugnant as it may be, if we are praying to God Almighty, “Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven,” because this is where our Lord pointed us to start in our thinking process about the consequences of not heeding His clear instructions.
Recently I had a discussion with a friend about what I have been discovering as I have delved into Romans 9:29, “And as Isaiah said before, ‘Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorrha.’” (KJV). I reviewed how that society embraced homosexualism and we can connect how that lifestyle spirals downward to all related categories, then ultimately to death. By its very nature it denies the procreation of human life. It is void of the seed of life in the natural, not to mention the spiritual implications. My friend then proceeded to give me an “education” about the homosexual lifestyle.
The first thing I learned was that there are degrees to this lifestyle from perhaps what seems to the observer as the most inoffensive or harmless person to the most extreme type of homosexual that is identified among themselves as a “vicious homosexual.” This label means exactly that. This is a deliberately cruel, immoral, violent, unprincipled individual who deliberately preys upon the most innocent, trusting, and inexperienced person in a room. In a prison setting, this is the kind of person that the other prisoners categorize as the worst of the worst, the lowest of the low, the most extreme sinner amongst them. These individuals are often murdered because their fellow-prisoners know precisely their depravity and decide such don’t deserve to live.
I am not going to spend any more time describing this lifestyle, whether from the most innocuous all the way down to what is called vicious by contemporaries. What we need to focus on is what Christ says about refusing the kingdom of heaven. I confess that I have been unable to connect intellectually how by refusing to receive the ministrations of the kingdom, as revealed in Christ’s gospel, a city degenerates downward into the outright depravity exhibited in Sodom and Gomorrah. However, you don’t need to look far in our present day society to make the connection that something has gone radically wrong. The very in-our-face manifestations of aberrant sexual behavior being forced upon the most innocent and trusting of us, our babies and young children, should make us rise up in alarm against such depravity. How can this be in light of the widespread availability of what we call the gospel in our nation?
This is so hard for me to articulate. First of all, there must be a major misinterpretation by Christians in what we call the gospel of Christ. Ever since my earliest recollections of hearing the “gospel” preached, I never heard any evangelistic plan based on Christ’s exact instructions to declare that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, to heal the sick, to cleanse the lepers (maybe this point comes closest to personal salvation), to raise the dead (!), and to cast out devils/demons. Mostly what I heard was an emphasis on personal salvation so you don’t go to hell. Or, if these points were considered, they were mostly taken in a “spiritual” way. For instance, to heal the “sin-sick soul” or to raise the spiritually “dead” who are lost in their trespasses and sins. (Please know that I do believe that we need to take these instructions in their deepest spiritual intent. However, there is the principle voiced by the Apostle Paul in I Corinthians 15 and specifically in verse 46, “Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.”) Akin to taking those teachings primarily in a spiritual way is concluding that these tough teachings of Christ were meant for them back then, in that first generation of new believers. Those things don’t apply to us today.
There must be a connection between this clear teaching of Christ and the fact that our whole world is infested with rampant homosexualtiy and the resultant deviant sexually related behaviors that spin off it. Perhaps there is significance in the order that Christ instructed his disciples to approach people…to announce the kingdom, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils. Have we even taught, much less practiced, kingdom of heaven theology so that people who hear it even get a chance to reject it? I am just now realizing that I am less than an infant in my healing skills, not to mention literally raising someone from the dead! Unless we practice the gospel as Jesus taught us to do, we are cutting ourselves short of the full power of the gospel. We are unable plant seeds properly, much less expect them to germinate and grow into their full potential.
Assuming, then, that the wide-spread scourge of homosexual behavior in the world today can be attached to the lack of Christians rightly presenting the kingdom gospel as Christ instructed His disciples to do, we can conclude that most of these unfortunate individuals haven’t even rightly heard the gospel of the kingdom in order to refuse it. What is the observable result of this lack?
I think that it is possible that many more of our babies, children, and youth than we can imagine have been sexually violated by adults who themselves have been infected with the homosexual “germ.” These seeds of destruction might lie dormant until something or someone out in the future triggers them. Could the scourge of trafficking, and particularly child trafficking, that afflicts our nation and the entire world find at least part of its source in Christian’s failure to rightly impart the gospel of the kingdom?
What would happen if we started to literally do what Christ tasked His first disciples to do? How would people respond to us if we announced that the kingdom of heaven was in our hands/at hand and then we offered to heal them or to cure their leprosy or to raise their dead or to cast out devils or demons? Imagine! What might start to happen?
Or, is Jesus’ power to do these miracles limited to only those who believed Him and ran with this very practical message 2,000 years ago?
What is worse than the judgment meted out to Sodom and Gomorrah?
And according as Isaiah saith before, ‘Except the Lord of Sabaoth did leave to us a seed, as Sodom we had become, and as Gomorrah we had been made like.’ (Romans 9:29; YL
When I enquired of the Lord what word He wanted me to focus on this time, I was surprised when I heard Sodom and Gomorrah. What more could I learn from this story that I didn’t already know? On the other hand, why did Paul mention Sodom and Gomorrah right here in this discussion of Israel? What have I missed? Tag along with me as I detour down this road.
The first thing we need to know is that there are not, as far as I have discovered, any esoteric meanings to the names of these cities. Sodom, Strong’s #4670, is simply defined as a place in Palestine meaning “burning.” Further, 1) a city destroyed by the Lord raining fire and brimstone on it, and, 2) metaphorically, Jerusalem in Revelation 11:8. About Gomorrah, Strong’s #1116, has only this to say: Gomorrah, one of the cities near the Dead Sea. Somewhere I did see a note that Gomorrah may also carry the meaning, to flood. Since this is the extent of Strong’s definitions, I did what you would probably do next: I started my search with the two cross references keyed to Sodom and Gomorrah in Romans 9:29.
The very first verse I looked at, Isaiah 13:19, “ And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha.” The other verse, Jeremiah 50:40, was penned after both the 10-Tribe northern kingdom of Israel and the 2-Tribe southern kingdom of Judah had been exiled from their lands. It reads, “As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof, saith the LORD; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.”
We haven’t done much delving, but so far we have discovered that the city of Jerusalem metaphorically is equated to Babylon which is equated to Sodom and Gomorrah. Other noteworthy facts gleaned from the Jeremiah reference are that no man, neither son of man, shall dwell therein. Finally, the other indisputable fact is that Sodom, Gomorrah, and ancient Babylon have been wiped out and no longer exist as physical cities today.
Next I read the account of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18-19. What stands out to me as I recollect the story about Sodom is how Abraham asks the LORD if He will destroy the righteous with the wicked. He then asks if 50 righteous live there will He destroy it? 45? 40? 30? 20? 10? The LORD answered, “No,” to all and finally in Genesis 18:32 said, “I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.” Then the LORD went his way. This is an important detail to keep in mind as we continue.
There were many more cross references to Sodom and Gomorrah in the Old Testament than I tracked down, but I decided to focus now on the 10 references in the New Testament attributed to Sodom under Strong’s #4670 and the 4 attributed to Gomorrah, #1116. Jesus talked about these places more than anybody, 6 times plus Revelation 11:8, therefore in the gospels is where I will focus my attention. (The 10 references are: Matt. 10:15; Matt. 11:23 & 24; Mark 6:11; Luke 10:12; Luke 17:29; Romans 9:29; 2 Peter 2:6; Jude 1:7; Revelation 11:8.)
Jesus mentioned the demise of Sodom and Gomorrah in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In each of these gospels the context was the comissioning of his disciples. I am going to start with Matthew 10 because this is the most comprehensive and detailed account where He commissioned the 12 disciples. In Luke there is an additional account of Jesus’ commissioning of the 70 who went out at a later time.
Matthew 10:5-15. 5) “These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them saying, ‘Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6) But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7) And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. 8) Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. 9) Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, 10) not scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, not yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat. 11) And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go hence. 12) And when ye come into a house, salute it. 13) And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14) And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. 15) Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city.’” We are meant to take these words to heart!
In Matthew 11:20 and following Jesus upbraided cities that did not repent. Chorazin and Bethsaida were told that if the mighty works that had been done there had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But, it’s to Capernaum, that city where Jesus had turned the water into wine—His first miracle—that I quote: 23) “And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell (Hades): for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24) But I say unto you, ‘That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom, in the day of judgment, than for thee.’”
I have one more quote, Luke 10:10-12. 10) But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, 11) ‘Even the very dust of your city—we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. 12) But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city.’”
What is it about houses or cities that do not receive you (in these contexts) that is worse than it will be for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment? Or, why will it be more tolerable for Sodom in that day? As I asked these questions I started to wonder why Paul even brought up Sodom and Gomorrah in the context of this chapter. It was then that I began to make some important connections.
Paul was a missionary of the Gospel of Christ. In the first verses it appears that he was agonizing over his brethren, his kinspeople in the flesh who are Israelites. Stop! We need to review who exactly these Israelites were. Way back in the first chapter I remember talking about the people to whom Paul specifically addressed this letter: the believers in Rome. Now I need to clarify further.
We just reviewed the passages in Matthew, Mark, and Luke where Jesus commanded his disciples to, “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6) But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Paul followed Jesus’ dictates scrupulously, and always in his missionary journeys searched out cities and areas where he knew dispersed tribal peoples of the house of Israel dwelt. (Remember: the northern 10 tribes of Israel had been taken captive by Assyria approximately 800 years previous to Paul’s time. He obviously knew that many of these dispersed, ‘lost’ Israeli peoples moved south of the Black Sea in what we know as Turkey and Greece, which is where Paul journeyed to preach. There were also Jews, from the southern kingdom, Judah, who also moved into these areas who established synagogues where they taught the Jewish religion). Anyway, Paul must have exercised Jesus’ command to always go first to these “lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
Furthermore, he must have traveled light. I envision that he probably had a backpack and carried only the most basic garments and items. He certainly wouldn’t have a pack mule to lug around a Samsonite suitcase. No. He must have found a worthy house and started out by declaring that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, healed the sick, cleansed lepers, raised dead people, cast out devils, and freely gave from whatever he had. He stayed in that house the entire time he intended to minister in that place. If the household was worthy, he was to let his peace come upon it.
This was the bad news: if the household was found not worthy and whoever would not receive him, nor hear his words, Paul’s peace was to return to him and when he left that house or city, he was to shake off the dust of his feet.
Jesus’ words about any house or city that refused this generous message of the kingdom of heaven with its attendent incredible blessings was this: “Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city.” (Matthew 10:15 KJV).
I wonder, have you ever taken these words seriously, as if Christ were instructing you? More, I wonder how many missionary societies use Jesus exact words in their commissioning ceremonies? I think it would do us good to think about our own churches or our personal belief systems and ask: how do we / I measure up when using Christ’s measuring stick? Do I even know what Christ meant when He commanded His disciples to declare first and foremost that the kingdom of heaven was at hand? Is our normal practice to heal the sick? Cleanse lepers? Raise the dead? Cast out devils? Give freely with no strings attached? But, let us return to the verse quoted at the top of this essay and consider this statement: Except the Lord of Sabaoth did leave to us a seed, as Sodom we had become, and as Gomorrah we had been made like.
As I was examining cross references for Sodom and Gomorrah, I came across this verse, Isaiah 14:22 (speaking of/to Babylon): “For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of Hosts (Sabaoth), and cut them off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD.” This, to me, is the key fact for us to absorb from this whole discussion.
Any household or city or region or nation who refuses to receive the gospel of the kingdom of God and Christ Jesus will be cut off from the promises God first of all made to His people—true Israel. Any people denying the faith engendered through Abraham and coming through the generations all the way to and through Christ and then onward to us will be cut off from having the name and remnant and son and even nephew…
Let me put it in these words: whoever refuses to accept the message of the kingdom of heaven/God/Christ will be as good as dead. Those people will not bear the faith seed of life. They will be impotent. They will surely die out and disappear from off the earth. They have no remnant. They have no son of faith. They have not even a nephew to inherit their estate. Think on these things.
This is a long word, but taking you along through my thinking process is the only way I am able to express this powerful message that is emerging here in Romans chapter nine. Thank you for tracking with me. There is much still unsaid about Israel, but it will have to keep until the next time.
And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha. (Romans 9:29; KJV)
It is breathtaking to me how casually we can take the reading of Holy Writ, God’s written word to us. It is even more breathtaking to realize how much knowledge and even revelation can be invested in a single word or, in this case, three words.
We left off last time in the Abraham and Sarah story when the promised child, Isaac, was finally born. The closer we got to the climax of the story, the more cliff-hangerish it became. It’s a wonder that Isaac was ever born! Today we will begin to explore this miraculous process as it pertains to us by starting with the definition of the word ἐγκατέλιπεν, left us, from the Blue Letter Bible.
1459. egkataleipó (eng-kat-al-i’-po)(Leave behind)
Definition: to leave behind, (in a good sense) let remain over or (in a bad sense) desert
From Strong’s HELPS Word-studies we find more: 1459 egkataleípō (from 1722 /en, “in”; 2596 /katá, “down”; and 3007 /leípō, “to leave”) – properly, left in a condition of lack (“without”); hence, to feel forsaken (helpless), like left in dire circumstances.
Thayer’s Greek Lexicon adds this more favorable note: to leave behind among, to leave surviving: ἡμῖν σπέρμα, Romans 9:29 from Isaiah 1:9.
In the last chapter I marveled how Abraham didn’t seem to understand how vital Sarah’s role was in bringing forth the child, the heir, that God had promised him. I must believe by observing his actions that he must have thought that God had a plan for bringing this special child into existence that wasn’t possible in his current circumstances. After all, Sarah was barren. He must have counted her out of the equation because he risked her purity twice when she was taken first into Pharoah’s harem and then into Abimelech’s harem. But, aren’t we the same? Don’t we at times feel abandoned by God when all seems lost? Don’t we occasionally feel forsaken or deserted or left in dire straits by God. Don’t we feel trapped in hopeless situations? Why is it this way?
As I pondered these things my thoughts returned to my original question when I started chapter nine: who is a true Israelite? I then reviewed the salient facts presented in this chapter, the most notable being that a true Israelite is chosen AND called of God. And, what is this vital chosen and called-of-God elusive characteristic that is at the heart of this matter? In a word, FAITH. Now, keeping the theme of today’s lesson (left us a seed) on the back burner, let us see if we can answer the question of who is a true Israelite today?
After King Solomon’s death the “Promised Land” called Israel was divided into two separate nations. The northern ten tribes which included the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, was from that point on named Israel. Israel’s citizens were called Israelites. The southern two tribes of Judah and Benjamin from that moment on was named Judea. Judea’s citizens were called Jews.
Keep tracking with me now. There were two main parts to Jacob-Israel’s blessing on his sons Joseph and Judah in Genesis 48 and 49. (He conferred special blessings on each of his sons, but Joseph and Judah are most significant in this discussion.) When old man Israel blessed Joseph in Genesis 48 he did it through Joseph’s sons. In verse 16 he said, “Let my name (Israel) be named on them, and the name of my Father’s Abraham and Isaac…”. The name, ISRAEL, was named on the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh. Wherever Ephraim and Manasseh went, the name Israel went with them. When all the people left Egypt, the whole lot of them was called Israel. When they arrived in the promised land, the land was called Israel. The citizens were Israelites. Remember this.
Jacob-Israel’s blessing on his son Judah is also distinctive. Genesis 49:8-12 records the entire blessing, but verse 10 holds the nugget: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” The scepter indicates that the KING of the nation would always come out of the tribe of Judah.
Paul was writing these things in the decades after Jesus ascended back to heaven. At that time Judea, as a geographical placename, still existed. Those people who claimed that as their homeland were called Jews. The place was not called Israel because the ten-tribe nation of Israel had been evicted from that physical, geographical land somewhere from 745-721 BC never to return to it again! That geographical place could never legitimately be called ‘Israel’ again. This is the physical pronouncement. Now let us return to Romans 9:29. Here we encounter the spiritual pronouncement.
That place the world calls ‘Israel’ today is not that Israel the Bible speaks of. However, there may be true, spiritual Israelites living in that place today. It is these true Israelites that can claim the seed that the Lord of Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts, left to us.
In all of the warfare going on in fake Israel today, never once have I heard any concern about the seed that was left to the people. There seems to be no concern by anybody over people who live in that geographical region being as Sodom or being made like as Gomorrah. (“Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha”VB). Those places were utterly annihilated, and if I remember correctly, those places are uninhabitable to this day. The seed is the important fact to focus on.
The concept of seed in scripture is not the easiest thing to pin down. Is it Jesus himself? Is it the word of God? This is really interesting: in Matthew 13:38 we read, “The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one.”
As I was pondering verse 29 with the mention of Sodom and Gomorrah, it made me a little crazy. What was I supposed to be comprehending here that I clearly wasn’t? Then a verse of scripture floated into my mind, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God…”, a very familiar verse (I John 3:1), only this is how I envisioned it: I saw myself standing under God when a waterfall of light plummeted down toward me. He commanded, “BE! HOLD! this LOVE that I BE! STOW! upon you…”. I clearly understood what He was saying. He was commanding me as I ‘be’ to ‘hold’ on to this Light/Love and to ‘be’ and ‘stow’ it into my innermost being so that I should be called a son of God!
Comprehension flooded me. The Giver of Light and Love planted the seed of Light and Love in my innermost being. That seed, as it began to grow within me, developed into the exact likeness and image of Jesus Christ so that all who see me will be seeing a smaller version of Jesus, a ‘son’, if you will. So, “Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.”
In verse 27 we read, “Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.” Even in that fake Israel today, I believe that there is a remnant of True Israelites, both Jews and Palestinians, who are holders of the precious seed. It is their nature to grow and multiply. I must believe that Psalm 126:6 is as true in them today even as it was thousands of years ago in the days of captivity: “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”
Deep Delvings 